


Torn Wings

by Murderbirb



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, I’m garbage at tags, Like really angsty when it happens, Lurien and Monomon are good pals, Lurien is a butterfly, Sudden angst, because why not, mention of suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:35:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28672332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murderbirb/pseuds/Murderbirb
Summary: Monomon always had an interest in what Lurien’s wings looked like. One day, she sees them first hand, and they aren’t as pretty as you’d expect a butterfly’s wings to be. And neither is his past.
Relationships: Lurien the Watcher & Lurien the Watcher's Butler (Hollow Knight), Lurien the Watcher & Monomon the Teacher (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	Torn Wings

**Author's Note:**

> TW: At one point in this, someone who committed suicide is mentioned. Be warned
> 
> This was originally gonna be a silly little fic, but quickly turned real angsty
> 
> Note: Lurien’ butler is named Arissio

Monomon was approaching the elevator of the watcher’s spire. She and Lurien had scheduled a meeting this week, mostly just for a simple discussion, probably over chess. It was something she was used to doing every few weeks. When she reached the elevator, she simply moved into it, and flipped the lever above her, before the elevator quickly began to rise. When she reached the top, however, she was surprised when the only person at the top was Arissio, who was cleaning Lurien’s telescope. When he turned and saw Monomon, he gave a startled yelp before correcting himself. “Greetings, Madam Monomon! I, uh, see you arrived early!” He sounded quite timid, but before he could say anything else, Monomon began to speak. “Hello Arissio! Yes, I believe that I may have arrived sooner than expected, but something has come up that is going to take up a bit of extra time, so I chose to come here a bit early. I hope that is not of much bother to you or Lurien.” Arissio looked back at her before speaking up. “Oh, I don’t think Master Lurien will have much of a big problem with this! He has quite an open schedule, normally.” Monomon quickly responded, “That reminds me, where is Lurien? I expected he would be up here...” 

That question was quickly answered when they heard the sound of the elevator activating again. Monomon turned around to see the elevator rising and with Lurien inside. Despite his mask, Monomon could tell he was glaring at her. “Ah, hello Lurien! I was wondering where you were!” Monomon spoke with a hint of awkwardness in her voice, as Lurien continued to glare at her. He gave out a sigh. “Monomon, next time you plan on visiting an hour early, will you please send your assistant to inform me first?” Monomon was quick to reply, “Sorry, but Quirrel was a bit busy today.” Lurien let out another short sigh, before looking over at Arissio, “Arissio, would you please prepare some tea for me and Monomon?” Arissio gave Lurien a short bow before responding, “Yes, Master!” He quickly walked to the elevator and flipped the switch, before descending. Shortly after Arissio left, Monomon saw Lurien picking something off a table, and it was easily identified as his antique chess set. He placed it down on a table and set the pieces up, before bringing a chair to the table and sitting down. He clasped his hands together before looking up at Monomon and speaking, “We’ll talk more about you visiting early later, but for now,” He moved a pawn forward one space, before looking back up at Monomon, “your move.” 

Monomon didn’t hesitate to start the chess game. It took a shortly while for Arissio to return with the tea and, afterward, Lurien asked him to please leave the room, since him and Monomon would likely be talking about a few more personal things, which Arissio complied to. The two of them proceeded to spend nearly an hour playing chess and discussing random subjects, sometimes delving into the Hollow Knight plan or other very serious subjects. Monomon was looking over her pieces, planing her next move, when she heard a sound. It was like a light *flap* noise. At first, she thought nothing of it, probably Lurien trying to distract her. Shortly after, though, she heard Lurien give out a “Gah!”, which caused her to look up from the board, and she saw something that she never expected. Lurien was obviously shocked, and his wings were revealed. He also seemed to be trying to shove them under his cloak. 

Monomon gave out a gasp as she saw the wings and, before Lurien could be able to hide them, she was already floating next to them, examining their design. They were pitch black, with thick lines of white at the edges. She placed a tentacle onto the wings as to feel the texture, but quickly removed it when Lurien released a shudder of discomfort. 

As Monomon looked at the wings design, she heard Lurien speak, “I must’ve put my cloak on wrong today.” When Monomon heard this, she took her gaze off of the wings to look at him, “What do you mean? It’s a cloak. You are just supposed to throw it on, it’s not very complex.” Monomon spoke, half joking and half questioning. Lurien turned around to look at her, “Well, my cloak is slightly more advanced. First of all, it has sleeves. Second of all, there is a slot on the back that allows my wings to go through. I normally use it if I want to find somewhere alone to release my wings and give them room to breathe. I must’ve forgotten to pin it shut. Monomon, are you even listening?” It appeared she wasn’t, and she was mostly enamored by his wings. He turned his head back to the board. 

“I have known that you were a butterfly for a while, but I never expected your wings to look like this.” Monomon spoke, causing Lurien to quickly turn his face to look at her, “How did you know?!?” His voice was filled with shock. Monomon gave out a small giggle due to his reaction, “Well, Herrah told me! She said that she wouldn’t stop pestering you about what species you were until you told her.” Lurien stared at her in disbelief, and she could tell he was getting more infuriated by the second. “That lying piece of shit! She promised to keep it a secret! I oughta go to Deepnest and gut her like th-“ “Perhaps you shouldn’t do that, Lurien. Even if you somehow won a deathmatch with her, you would need to deal with the rest of the weavers, and I don’t think they’d be happy if you murdered their queen.” Monomon placed a tentacle on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. “Fine.”, Lurien grumbled out. She could still see that he had his hands clenched and he glanced over at his antique nail on the wall. 

After that, however, Monomon noticed something about his wings. They were torn. Large tears and holes decorated his wings as light bounced off their darkness. She turned to look at Lurien, and he could tell she was worried. “I know what you are going to ask, and yes, this is why I cover my wings with my cloak. They are horribly torn, which has left me unable to fly. The tears are unable to heal, so I believe that keeping them covered to avoid further damage is a must.” Monomon took in a breath, “How did this happen to your wings?” She spoke, and looked back to the injuries. “I got them a few years after I gained my wings. I was horribly injured due to a foolish decision by my brother. I was ashamed, I was a butterfly who hid his wings from the world. I couldn’t fly. I became nothing more than a disgrace. I felt guilty to even be in my family, that they even had to relate to me. I would be insulted by other nobles, and even though my parents would defend me, I just, felt that the nobles were right, that I was only an embarrassment to the family name. After a while, I grabbed a cloak, a mask, and a bit of money and I ran. I fled my home, hoping that I could live the rest of my life without needing to be a disgrace to my family.”

Monomon was surprised, but then went into thought, “Wait....... you were the lost son of the Meílath family!” Lurien quickly turned around in his seat, causing his wings to hit the table. It hurt to do that, but that wasn’t important. “How do you know my last name.” It wasn’t a question, it was an order, which Monomon replied to. “Your family had messengers sent all over the kingdom, just trying to find you! I had one come to my archives shortly after I came to Hollownest, asking people if they had seen you! And from what I heard, they were searching for you for 2 years!” He could hear her anger. It made sense she would be angry. Most people would probably be angry if they knew this. But Lurien doesn’t want to be screamed at over something that she didn’t even know all about. 

“Don’t act like you know everything! You don’t even know my family!” 

“That isn’t what matters! Your family is obviously still fearing for you! The probably think you are dead!”

“They aren’t even fearing for me anymore!” 

“And how do you know that?!” 

“Because they are dead!” 

Monomon was shocked when she heard him, but before she could respond, he began to speak again. “Don’t act like you understand what I also had to deal with. Running from my home is my greatest regret in life. I left behind the people that cared for me for my own idiotic reasons, and now I have to deal with the guilt of knowing that they died believing that I was dead. I wish that I left behind my fear and went to see them before they died, that I could show them I was alive. They would probably have been angry, but at least they could be relieved to know I was alive. Now, all I’m left with is the pain and regret from how I left them.” Monomon felt her anger slowly turn to pity as she watched tears slowly roll down Lurien’s mask. She placed a tentacle on his shoulder again, hoping it would comfort him, yet, it seemed that it didn’t help at all. She wished she could think of a way to help him, maybe even just tell him to let his pain out, which, despite her not asking, he already began to as he continued to speak, with sobs choking his voice. “And the worst part was, it all happened so fast. At first, my brother was found dead in kingdom’s edge, likely due to the colosseum above. Then, my father and my other siblings fell to the infection. My mother was the last one alive, but when I finally worked up the courage to visit her, to console her, I found her limp body dangling by the neck. It happened over a month, yet felt so quick, and by the time I could process it, they were gone.” Lurien wrapped his arms around himself as he shook and cried. Monomon simply stood next to him as he cried in grief. She still felt angry from knowing what he put his family through, but she could see that he already knew what he did far too well. She hated that she couldn’t do much to help him, it’s obvious she didn’t know this well enough to console him. She could’ve just left the room, leaving him to weep alone, yet she chose to stay beside him, unable to reassure him. She may be angry, she may not be able to help, but she wouldn’t just leave him alone and broken.

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be funny and cut, but now is just sad.
> 
> I made some more stuff like this in the “Wait...What” Drabble series


End file.
